The Fairy King Works as a Porter
Elder Fairy.
Seraphin, who had suddenly been saddled with a name that sounded more like a puppy’s—Piron—was surveying the queen’s palace.
“Pi·····.”
If she had to put her honest impression into words: it was filthy. The place was so messy that no one would ever believe a queen actually lived here.
She shot a sidelong glance at her king.
“Hehe.”
“·····.”
Whatever it was the king was doing, he looked terribly busy. As a loyal subject, then, it fell to her to clean the space in which her sovereign resided. Without a word, Seraphin rolled up her tiny sleeves.
“Pi.”
She took flight and began gathering the scattered objects one by one, returning each to its proper place.
If any Awakened are here, raise your hand once.
I’m genuinely curious, for real.
I’ll go first—
(Photo of Awakened rank certification)
Life is SS-tier
I Awakened and my skill is EX-rank.
I tried using it and I can tell it’s a solid skill for sure, but is EX-rank better than S-rank?
I already knew about the time-honored tradition: once you Awaken, you get your rank measured, post the proof on the gallery, and collect a hundred downvotes. The problem was that my current physical condition made rank measurement impossible.
Because of my ID.
Uh·····.
What now? Without a usable ID, had I just become an illegal orphan? Not that I particularly wanted to announce to the world that a twenty-five-year-old man had turned into a girl·····.
Clack—
“Ah, thanks.”
A mug settled naturally onto the desk. Inside was barley tea. I took a casual sip and my eyes flew wide open before I could stop them.
“Eh?”
But who made this tea?
I turned my head. Piron was standing on the desk with her hands folded politely over her belly.
“Did you brew this?”
“Pi.”
“Whoa.”
Our Piron was ridiculously smart. And strong, too, by the looks of it. Being able to lift a cup of water nearly the size of her own body was no joke.
“Huh?”
But····· somehow, wasn’t my room a little cleaner than before?
Wait, no way?
“You cleaned the room too?”
“Pi.”
“Whoa.”
Piron was no ordinary summoned beast. She was a full-blown homemaker. Brewing tea, cleaning house, tiny and adorable—she was basically a multi-tool summon.
I ruffled Piron’s hair and checked the gallery again.
My lips stuck out in a pout before I could help it, and a long sigh escaped me. I wanted to post proof, but without a way to get ranked there was nothing I could do.
·····?
How was clearing a gate supposed to count as proof?
So that method existed, huh?
Well, I’d been planning to enter a gate anyway—partly to figure out what the Rune Language skill could actually do.
But is going in like this really the right call?
Most gates were entered in parties of three or more. The only hunters who could solo-clear a gate were S-rank hunters. Obviously I’d have to join a party too—but was it smart to walk into a party when I didn’t even understand my own abilities yet?
I’d be lucky if I didn’t get cussed out.
Normally, aspiring hunters figured out their skill details first and only then challenged a gate. If I went in like this I might be even less useful than a Porter.
Wait. Porter?
“Ah! That’s right! Porter!”
Come to think of it, most newbie hunters used that exact method. Plenty of newly Awakened signed up as Porters first, just to get a feel for how a gate raid actually worked. I could do the same. Maybe the process would even give me a chance to use Rune Language.
Besides, I’d done Porter work a couple of times before. Exactly twice, but still. Doing it with a normal civilian body had been brutal. Not many people hired civilians in the first place—I’d just gotten lucky both times. The pay had been decent, though.
Let’s see, HunterMon·····.
It was the all-in-one community app for hunters—byproduct trading, party recruitment, Porter requests, info sharing, pretty much every function a hunter needed. I was already registered there as a Porter. A civilian Porter, of course. Now that I was Awakened, I just needed to update my profile.
Let’s see—switch from civilian to Awakened.
Beginning Awakened authentication.
A loading screen popped up on my phone. The built-in mana sensor was measuring the mana in my body.
Authentication complete.
Along with the completion message, an Awakened information form appeared. I fretted over a nickname for a second, then just went with “Ellie.” I still had no idea why the status window named me Ellie or why it listed my age as thirteen, but whatever.
Next I had to set whether I was a Solo, Double, Triple, or Quad hunter·····.
A Quad hunter working as a Porter?
Would anyone even believe a Quad was doing Porter work? They’d probably just assume I was lying if I set it to Quad.
Then just Double it is.
Most hunters who worked as Porters were Solos or Doubles anyway. So I set myself as a Double hunter. Matching would go faster as a Double than a Solo.
Ding—
“·····?”
I hadn’t expected matching to happen this fast, though.
“Wow, Doubles really do hit different.”
So this was the power of a Double hunter—offers rolling in immediately. I accepted right away. The moment I did, I was dropped into the party chat, and the headcount looked··· off.
·····Ten Porters?
What kind of gate needed this many people? Normally a party hired only one Porter.
Then a message appeared in the party chat.
“Ah.”
I understood the situation instantly. So this was that legendary Porter lottery people only talked about—mass hiring for a guild interview.
You know how it is when you start a new job and get so nervous you start googling everything? The first time I ever got matched for Porter work I’d done the exact same thing, and somewhere in those search results I’d learned one golden rule: if a guild is hiring a bunch of Porters for an interview, you have to go. Word was you basically got free money for showing up.
And it’s even an Origin Guild interview.
One of the giant guilds that dominated the capital region of South Korea—run by an actual S-rank hunter. Yeah, that explained the headcount.
Soon the party leader’s message came through.
Eunpyeong Gate 4. Danger rank: D-rank. A hunting ground owned by Origin Guild. A little rough for true beginners, but perfect for hunters with a bit of experience under their belts.
Hmm····· but will I even get a chance to use a skill?
If this was an interview, that meant a high-ranked hunter would be coming as the examiner. Would I really get an opening to use a skill? There were also a ton of people. I was an introvert—could I even survive this?
·····Yeah, I could survive this.
“One million won·····.”
Right. Eating and surviving came first. Opportunities to make money didn’t come around often. I nodded and accepted my fate.
Yeah. Skill testing could wait for later.
The next morning.
I washed up quickly, got dressed, and was just finishing my preparations to leave.
Let’s see····, dagger packed, pickaxe packed, water for myself, and the canned coffee to hand out to people I can grab at a convenience store on the way.
“Pi?”
Piron fluttered over and tilted her head. The whole posture screamed, Where are you going, Master?
“Ah, Piron. Daddy’s going to work.”
“Pi!?”
Piron looked absolutely horrified. For some reason the news seemed to have hit her like a truck.
·····Ah. So Piron didn’t want to be separated from me either.
I pulled her into a hug.
“Haa·····, I don’t want to go either, but there’s no choice. If we want to eat, we have to make money.”
“Pipi! Pi!”
“Hm? You want to come with me?”
“Pipi.”
Piron nodded firmly. But····· Piron could do a lot of things, sure, but could she actually fight?
Clack—
Honestly I felt a little uneasy and wanted to leave her home, but she climbed onto my shoulder and latched onto my sleeve like she would never let go.
Uh, well·····.
If she was going to be like this, there was nothing I could do. She had been born from a skill, after all. She had to have at least some combat ability.
“Alright. Let’s go together.”
“Pi!”
And really, how dangerous could it get? There were a full twenty hunters coming for an interview. Something going wrong would be the weird part.